-- No. 19 

APRIL 1953 

NOTES 

UPPER DARBY PA R. W. MARQUIS DIRECTOR 

RELATIVE EASE OF PEELING 

BEECH, RED MAPLE, & YELLOW BIRCH 

I Rough hardwood is often difficult to market 

~ as pulpwood, but peeled wood finds readier markets and also brings a higher price. To determine the relative ease of peeling beech, red 

maple, and yellow birch, a study was made at the 

Paul Smith Experimental Forest in the Adirondacks of Mew York. 

Common woods practice is to peel the entire 

le in one piece and then cut it into &-foot 

Its. Inthis study, however, thewoodwas e- eeled in 4-foot bolts to eliminate the effects 

b of such variables as clear bole length, roughness of bole, and lay of the tree. 

The study was made at the peak of the peeling season. All wood used was peeled within 4 

' hours of felling. 

In peeling, the bolt was leaned against a 

notched log, which served as a simple peeling 

ra*. Bark was removed with a short-handled 

(16-inch) hemlock spud. 
Yellow birch peeled most easily. Its bark 

was stiff and thick, and it loosened in sheets. 

Red maple also peeled easily. Its bark was 

tough, and it separated from the wood in long 

flexible strips. 

Beechwas themost difficult to peel. Its 

bark was thin and brittle, and it came off in 

narrow strips. Beech bark sets to the wood rapidly: one day in the sun dries out the cambium 

Time 

per bolt 

and cements the bark to the wood. 

Yellow birch and red maple were certai 

as easy to peel as either spruce or fir. And, 

Number Inches Min. :Sec . Beech 15 8.58 3 : 24.7 

Red maple 14 7.06 1 : 33.7 

Yellow birch 32 6.60 1 : 11.1 

Average 

diameter 

outside 

bark 

Species 

in addition, peeling them was clean-work--no 

pitch or resin to gum up tools, hands, and 

clothes. 

Bolts 

peeled 

--WILLIAM RUTHERFORD, JR. 

(~r. Rutherford, formerly a member of the Northeastern Forest Experiment Station's Adirondack 

Research Center, is now head of the Forestry 

Department at Paul Smiths College, Paul Smiths, 

N. Y.) 

2 
IMPLE MEASURING DEVICE 

PEEDS PULPWOOD CUTTING 

A simple measuring rod, easily attached to 

a chain saw, permits pulpwood cutters to measure 

bolt lengths and buck the tree into bolts in one 

operation. By eliminating the separate jobs of 

measuring and marking, it saves as much as 20 

minutes per cord in production time. 

This device, made at the Experiment Station's research center. at Beltsville, Md., employs a car-radio antenna. These can be picked 

up at any auto junkyard. They are fairly stiff 

and can be telescoped from about 2 feet to 5 

feet. 

The antenna rod is attached to the saw by a 

simple swiveling bracket, without any alteration 

to the saw. 

The bracket is made of 2 pieces of lh-inch 

angle iron 3/16 inch thick. In this case (for 

use with a 1-man Homelite saw), a piece 2 inches 
long is bolted to the bumper shoe of the saw, 

form a base plate. Another piece, 1 inch long 

to the base plate with a swivel bolt. 

with the antenna rod bolted to it, is 

The bolt holes are alined so the measuring 

rod lies directly over the saw chain. Equally 

simple attachment brackets can be made for other 

makes of chain saws. 

Mounted this way, the measuring rod can be 

swung horizontally 90 degrees to either right or 

left of the saw bar; or it can be swung straight 

ahead over the saw bar. In this position, telescoped, the saw can be used for felling without 

removing the measuring rod. Also, in this position the rod is out of the way when carrying the 

saw through brush. 

This measuring rod attachment is believed 

to be an improvement over the "Sam Day measwing 

rod attachmentf' described in the American Pulpwood Associationls Equipment Handbook Release 

No. 111, April 1952. 

To use the measuring rod, the operator po 

sitions the saw so the tip of the rod lies j 

evenwiththeendofthetree. Therehemake -8 

his cut. Then he moves along the tree until the 

tip of the rod is even with the end of the first 

cut, and he bucks off another bolt. He moves 

along the tree this way, cutting as he measures. 

Since the rod can be swiveled to either 

side of the saw, he can work along the tree in 

1 zr saw from either side. 

E - FOREST SERVICE - UPPER DARBY. PA.